My daughter and I went to the 9th St. Italian Market today. If we would have know how much traffic there was going on the other side of Lancaster (from all the tourists) and how bad the traffic was near Philly I don't think we would have went. It took us over 4 ½ hrs to drive back and forth to the market. Traffic was a nightmare and there we not any accidents. I never saw that much traffic anytime in my life going and coming back from Philly.

I specially wanted to go to the 9th St. Italian Market to get the pepperoni bread to see if I thought it was as good as the last time I tasted it, but I did purchase a few other items while I was there. I could have gone “hog wild” because there are so many different things that can be purchased, but I behaved this time. I only purchased a couple of the Calabrese Peppers in Oil to see how they are. I wanted to purchase some Duck Prosciutto, but that were sold out until I got there. There were different cheeses that I would have liked to try, but that might be for another time.

These are some more photos at the market and also what I purchased. I asked the ladies behind the counter at Sarcone's Bakery how they make that pepperoni bread, because I wanted to try to make some at home. The ladies told me they just use their pizza dough and roll it out. That sure was a different answer than I got when I ordered the pepperoni bread and the two pizza dough balls. I also asked what is inside the pepperoni bread besides the pepperoni. The ladies told me some cheese and sauce. I then asked if I used their pizza dough balls would I also be able to make the pepperoni bread. They said yes and I could also put other ingredients inside if I wanted. I then purchased another pizza dough ball to experiment with. There was no shortage of pepperoni bread or pizza dough balls today and we even got there later. I asked if I could freeze some of the dough balls to use later and was told yes, but to oil them. They were just floured. When I got home I put one pizza dough ball in the fridge and froze two of them. I will see on Tuesday if I can make the pepperoni bread with Sarcone's pizza dough. To me it looks like the dough rolled, folded over once, pinched at the end and some kind of something must be brushed on the top to get that browning. There looks to be a thin layer of cheese on the top and not much of any sauce. To my thinking if it is pizza dough that is used for the pepperoni bread it sure doesn't rise much while baking. The dough balls had skins on them and I weighed the one dough ball when I got home and it weighed 488 grams. The pizza dough balls do not feel like any that I have ever made.

The people in front of me waiting in line also wanted to purchase some of the duck prosciutto. When I go to Di Bruno Bros http://www.dibruno.com/ again I might order some of the duck prosciutto the day before.

great pictures Norma. I think I need to plan a trip to Philadelphia to shop.

Thanks Deb! The 9th St. Italian market is very interesting. They have so many really old time food places and interesting shops. I didn't spend that much time there yesterday because it took us to long to get back and forth from all the traffic and my daughter needed to get home to do other things and it was my mother's 91st birthday yesterday. I could spend hours there though.

I was in Philly in April, gave a talk at Drexel Univ. that's my day gig....Went to South Philly had my Philly Cheese Steak walked up to 9th street market, perused all the shops... it was a leisurely late morning, couldn't find stracchino. Anyway, moving back to the UK early next year, and I know where you can get that in London easily. (Will not be living in London but can get there easily enough) and will get over to Recco at some stage.........

I was in Philly in April, gave a talk at Drexel Univ. that's my day gig....Went to South Philly had my Philly Cheese Steak walked up to 9th street market, perused all the shops... it was a leisurely late morning, couldn't find stracchino. Anyway, moving back to the UK early next year, and I know where you can get that in London easily. (Will not be living in London but can get there easily enough) and will get over to Recco at some stage.........

synaesthesia,

Great to hear you were in Philly in April. I couldn't find the stracchino cheese either in the few stores I looked in at the 9th St. Italian market.. It is good you can find the stracchino cheese in the UK. I might look in NYC at some point in time for the stracchino cheese. Where is Recco?